The field of the invention is combinations of picture holders, book holders, and voice recorders.
It has long been known that reading story books to children is a good way to develop a child's interest and skills in reading, as well as a way for parents and other relatives to bond with the child. Unfortunately in today's society it is not always possible to read stories it children in person. Parents may have jobs that require frequent out-of-town business trips, and grandparents or other relatives may live far away and thus be able to visit only occasionally. The parent invention is designed to help people in these situations simulate a personalized reading experience for their children or grandchildren. As the child pages through a book, he or she hears the recorded voice of a parent or other relative reading the book and can see said relative's picture in the picture holder.
Various prior art devices combining a picture frame with a voice recorder are known to exist. One type currently on the market, known by the trademark Voice-Over, is manufactured by Voice Express Corp., Tuckahoe, New York, and is described in several U.S. patents to Loudermilk et al., most comprehensively in U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,401.
Other types of combination picture frames and recorders are described in the following U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,686 to Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,374 to Schwartz, U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,370 to Smith, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,371 to Camillery, as well as the following design patents: D490,990 to Li, D435,841 to Thousand, D457,530 to Amron, and D437,590 to Girt et al.
Talking boots are also known in the prior art. However, no known prior art combines a picture holder, a book holder, and a voice recorder to make a complete personalized story reading system as in the present invention.